Proteomics of Dupuytren's Contracture Sweat Glands

Nodular tissue samples from Dupuytren’s contracture (DC samples) were obtained from biopsies taken from twelve patients with DC with extensive, stage 2 or 4 fibrosis of the palmar fascia undergoing open radical palmar fasciectomy. Normal palmar fascia (control samples) were obtained from nine patients unaffected by DC undergoing open carpal tunnel release surgery. All samples were collected at the Tartu University Hospital, Surgery Clinic between January to June 2022 (Permit 335/T-1 from the Committee for Human Studies, University of Tartu), and the procedures were performed in accordance with The Declaration of Helsinki and written informed consent was obtained from the patients. In total twenty-seven samples were collected: twelve control samples and fifteen DC samples, of which, nine samples per condition were used to collect sweat glands for the proteomics experiment, while three control samples and six DC samples were used for immunofluorescence analysis.
The nodular tissue was separated from the DC chords, embedded in O.C.T compound (Sakura Finetek) and stored at −80 °C until further analysis. Six DC samples and three control samples were used for immunofluorescence analysis. Eighteen samples from eighteen different patients were used to collect sweat glands. For sweat gland separation, subcutaneous fat and DC chords were removed under aseptic conditions, the remaining tissues were minced into small pieces and digested overnight with 0.1% Collagenase I (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Grand Island, NY, USA) at 37 °C in an incubator with 5% CO₂. On the next day, sweat glands were isolated with a pipettor under an inverse microscope [8 (link)]. Sweat glands were collected into separate tubes (per patient) and stored at −80 °C until further analysis. Supplementary Table S2 shows data on donor age, sex, and experiment in which the samples were used.